Literary Terms and Devices Types of Literature Parts of the Story Literary Devices

Types of Literature 1. Nonfiction: based on real people and real events without any exaggeration or added creativity 2. Drama: a story written so that it can be acted out on stage 4. Fiction: a story written using imagination; it may or may not be based on truth 3. Poem: a creative piece of writing, sometimes written in free form (stanzas, verses)

Satire Satire: using exaggeration and humor to make fun of society or people

Irony conveys certain ideas by saying just the opposite differences in appearance and reality differences in expectations and results differences in meaning and intention

Irony Dramatic Irony: When the audience knows something the character don’t– creates more tension Situational Irony: When the audience or characters expect one something to happen, and the opposite occurs Verbal Irony: words that say one thing but the truth is the opposite (sarcasm)

Sensory Description/Imagery When an author appeals to the 5 senses to describe something in a story to let the reader imagine and create an image. Ex. The smoke billowed through the air on the breeze and smelled of pine and dry leaves.

Simile A comparison that uses “like” or “as” For example, “I’m as hungry as a wolf,” or “My love is like a rose.”

Metaphor A comparison that doesn’t use “like” or “as”—such as “He’s a rock” or “I am an island.”

Analogy a comparison of two things or ideas based on their being alike in some way (an extended metaphor—the two things have several characteristics in common)

Analogy example "Cameron's house is like a museum. It's very cold, and very beautiful, and you're not allowed to touch anything." (Matthew Broderick as Ferris in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, 1986)

Theme The central idea of a work, the central unifying element of the story. It is the lesson or main idea. It is the understanding, the idea, that the story gives the reader. Often, the theme arises through summary of all the incidents, conversations, descriptions in the story.

Mood The emotional atmosphere of any piece of writing. It is what the author wants the reader to feel when reading the story. Examples: Light-hearted, joyful, happy Melancholy, sad, dispairing Suspenseful, mysterious, anxious serious fast-paced, etc.

Personification Giving inanimate object human characteristics. For example, “The flames reached for the child hovering in the corner.”

Tone Tone is the attitude or feelings of the author toward his or her topic or subject. Tone can also be the attitude or feelings of the character the author is describing. Tone is developed through language, imagery, diction (word choice), and syntax (sentence structure).

Flashback Flashback—a scene that tells what happened at an earlier time. Past provide background information strengthen our understanding of a character Present

Foreshadowing Foreshadowing is the use of clues to hint at events that will occur later in the plot. may be a hint about what will follow or what willhappen next about the characters, the setting orthe general atmosphere of the story Foreshadowing can make a story more excitingby increasing suspense

Symbolism the use of one thing to represent another a red octagon may stand for "STOP” The flag represents patriotism, country, freedom

Parts of the Short Story Conflict: The problem or issue the main character, the protagonist, faces in the story. Person vs. Person (external conflict) Person vs. Nature (external conflict) Person Vs. Society (external conflict) Person vs. Self (INTERNAL conflict) The force or person the main character is against is called the ANTOGONIST.

Parts of the Story “A Story Map” Hook: a question or a problem that makes you want to keep reading Exposition: how the story begins; setting, characters, and situation Setting: time and location where the story takes place Rising action: events that lead up to the climax

Setting: the time, place and period in which the action takes place. The Bean Trees: Arizona/Oklahoma 1980s. The Catcher in the Rye:New York, 1940s Lord of the Flies: deserted island, the future.

Setting: can help in the portrayal of character. “…it was so quiet and lonesome out, even though it was Saturday night. I didn’t see hardly anybody on the street. Now and then you just saw a man and a girl crossing the street with their arms around each other’s waists and all, or a bunch of hoodlumy-looking guys and their dates, all of them laughing like hyenas at something you could bet wasn’t funny. New York’s terrible when somebody laughs on the street very late at night. You can hear it for miles. It makes you feel so lonesome and depressed.” The Catcher in the Rye (81)

Setting: in some works of fiction action is so closely related to setting that the plot is directed by it. “The new man stands, looking a minute, to get the set-up of the day room. One side of the room younger patients, known as Acutes because the doctors figure them still sick enough to be fixed, practice arm wrestling and card tricks…Across the room from the Acutes are the culls of the Combine’s product, the Chronics. Not in the hospital, these to get fixed, but just to keep them from walking around the street giving the product a bad name. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (19)

Setting: can establish the atmosphere/mood of a work. “During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country.” “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe

Parts of the Story (cont.) Climax: the moment of highest interest; the conflict is faced Falling Action: events that follow the climax; things are wrapped up Resolution: the final outcome of the story; how it ends

Narrator – Point of View Narrator: the “voice” telling the story Point of view: one of three possible ways to look at the story: First person: the main character is telling the story (speaker uses “I”) 3rd person omniscient: the narrator can tell us everything about the character, no matter where the main character is, because the narrator sees/knows everything 3rd person limited: narrator can only tell about the main character’s experiences in the scenes s/he is part of